RIDGEWAY, Va. — After stage one saw chaos and calamity, stage two of Sunday’s STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway ran caution-free but saw an equally exciting finish, as Chase Elliott edged out Kyle Busch for the stage win and accompanying playoff point in a photo finish.
Busch led the field to the restart following the first stage break and dominated the stint, only briefly losing the lead to Elliott early on before re-passing him on the 152nd round and pulling out to a near-five second lead at times.
However, lap traffic came into play in the final moments of the second stage, with Busch getting moved out of the way in turn four by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. coming to the green-checkered flag and Elliott sneaking through on the inside lane.
The official margin at the stripe was .057 of a second, and it marked Elliott’s second stage win of the season.
“It was definitely wild. I think I’m as surprised you’re talking to me right now as you are,” Elliott said via the FOX broadcast. “It’s been a fun afternoon so far in the SunEnergy1 Chevy and hopefully we can finish off strong. This is a different place for me and like we’ve talked in the past, I’m just trying to kind of figure it out so hopefully we can move forward or stay up here the rest of the day.”
Brad Keselowski finished third behind Elliott and Busch, followed by nine-time Martinsville winner Jimmie Johnson and Ryan Blaney.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Matt Kenseth, Erik Jones, Trevor Bayne and Kasey Kahne completed the top 10.
After the incident with Stenhouse, Busch went into a tirade over his team radio.
“All that (expletive) work for nothing!” he fumed, despite collecting nine points for the runner-up result.
Of note, Kyle Larson ended the second stage one lap down in 21st, marking the first stage in any race this year that the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series points leader failed to score points.
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network.
Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 22-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
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